A-rod Makes It Worth Wait

Three Rbi In Delayed Game

NEW YORK — While the Devil Rays were caught up in a real-life but unfunny version of ``Planes, Trains and Automobiles'' Monday, the Yankees were sitting around and manager Joe Torre was thinking.

How could Alex Rodriguez be kick-started? How could he be given the protection of Gary Sheffield hitting behind him, without moving Sheffield from the No. 3 spot where he has thrived? Torre and hitting coach Don Mattingly had been kicking it around for weeks.

Once he knew he'd be playing one game, not two, Torre jotted down all his regulars and decided to stick Rodriguez, one of the top power hitters of recent times, in the No. 2 spot in the order, behind Derek Jeter.

``It's a comfortable spot, between Jeter and Sheff,'' Rodriguez said. ``I hit second for five years in Seattle, for Lou [Piniella], in front of [Ken] Griffey Jr. And that was a fun place to hit.''

It turned out to be the perfect spot for Rodriguez, who last hit second on Oct. 2, 1999. He had two doubles, the second one driving in three runs, to propel the Yankees to a 7-4 victory over Tampa Bay at Yankee Stadium Monday.

Only one game of the scheduled doubleheader could be played because of the Devil Rays' hurricane-related travel problems. The Yankees wanted a forfeit victory but were turned down by Major League Baseball; commissioner Bud Selig wants the lost game rescheduled, and recommended Wednesday.

The 12-hit, homerless offensive outburst was enough for Orlando Hernandez (7-0, 2.62 ERA) to work with; El Duque quelled the Devil Rays for seven innings, allowing only four hits and two runs. Both Hernandez and pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre were ejected for arguing balls and strikes with home plate umpire Rob Drake, but Hernandez, at 110 pitches, was about to come out of the game at that point.

``[Drake] had an attitude,'' Torre said. ``Duque is excitable, but Mel is pretty calm. You have to do something pretty special to get Mel [angry].''

Paul Quantrill pitched the eighth and ninth, allowing a two-run homer to Geoff Blum in the ninth. After the Yankees scored twice in the eighth, closer Mariano Rivera was able to take the night off.

The Yankees (85-52) retained their 2 1/2-game lead over the Red Sox in the AL East and have won two in a row. More important, they have gotten six consecutive solid performances from their starting pitchers since the 22-0 loss to the Indians last Monday, lowering the rotation's collective ERA from 5.01 to 4.88.

Nothing would do more to re-establish the Yankees' championship chances than that long-awaited hitting spree from Rodriguez, whose offensive output has been nowhere near what he did with the Rangers in 2001-03. Rodriguez, for instance, had not delivered a hit with the bases loaded all season before driving Doug Waechter's slider past third base and into the left field corner in the fourth inning, with Bernie Williams, Kenny Lofton and Derek Jeter scoring to give the Yankees a 5-1 lead.

``Alex was more aggressive tonight,'' Torre said. ``He swung at some first pitches with good results. We'll keep playing with it as long as it seems comfortable.''

Rodriguez, hitting .285 with 84 RBI, also doubled in the third, putting runners at second and third to set up their first run.

The delayed Devil Rays landed at LaGuardia at 5:25 and, arriving in their uniforms 30 minutes later, went right onto the field to stretch.

If there's one thing a team doesn't need after such a tedious day of hurry-up-and-wait, it's Hernandez and his unnerving array of soft pitches. In the second inning, El Duque fell behind Jorge Cantu 3-and-1 and took his chances with a fat strike. Cantu hit it over the center field wall for his first major league home run, but otherwise the Rays were kept off balance and relegated to hitting weak pop flies.

Rocco Baldelli doubled and scored on Jose Cruz Jr.'s single in the eighth. Hernandez thought he had Julio Lugo struck out to end the seventh, which started the problems with Drake. Lugo grounded out, and Drake took offense when Hernandez and Stottlemyre hollered from the top step of the dugout.

``I don't know why the umpire reacted to me the way he did,'' Hernandez said. ``I pitched well. It was the first time in a while I pitched on [four days' rest]. We had been having six and seven days between starts. I'm tired, but I'm happy.''